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Monday, 20 June 2016

Venezuela - A Nation of Beauty Queens; Now A Nation of Hungers! Who will have thought this will happened?

“It was all a new
reality for Gabriel Márquez, 24, who grew up in the boom years when Venezuela
was rich and empty shelves were unimaginable.”

Read below news and you will be
shocked that this is happening to a country that used to be extremely prosperous.

Venezuela had once the world's
largest oil reserves and had been one of the world's leading exporters of oil.
Besides, it is also the country which also produced many beauty queens! TODAY it is in riot for food. In 2015, Venezuela had the world's highest inflation rate with the
rate surpassing 100%, becoming the highest in the country's history.

THIS IS REAL AND NOT IMAGINARY!

Venezuela’s woes are results of years
of DEFICIT SPENDING from populist policies leading to overspending on social
programs and over-reliance on oil funds.

As from Ray Dalio’s economic
principles, very often a situation like this will lead to the poor resenting the
rich and riots will take place. And the most worrying is that it will then lead to a
dictator coming in power just like Hitler during the WW2.

Perhaps Venezuela too insignificant a country to have a big impact to the global economy.

UMANÁ, Venezuela — With delivery
trucks under constant attack, the nation’s food is now transported under armed
guard. Soldiers stand watch over bakeries. The police fire rubber bullets at
desperate mobs storming grocery stores, pharmacies and butcher shops.A 4-year-old girl was shot to death as street gangs fought
over food.

Venezuela is convulsing from hunger.

Hundreds of people here in the city
of Cumaná, home to one of the region’s independence heroes, marched on a
supermarket in recent days, screaming for food. They forced open a large metal
gate and poured inside. They snatched water, flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar,
potatoes, anything they could find, leaving behind only broken freezers and
overturned shelves.

And they showed that even in a
country with the largest oil reserves in the world, it is possible for people
to riot because there is not enough food.

In the last two weeks alone, more
than 50 food riots, protests and mass looting have erupted around the country.
Scores of businesses have been stripped bare or destroyed. At least five people
have been killed.

This is precisely the Venezuela its
leaders vowed to prevent.

In one of the nation’s worst
moments, riots spread from Caracas, the capital, in 1989, leaving hundreds dead
at the hands of security forces. Known as the “Caracazo,” or the “Caracas
clash,” they were set off by low oil prices, cuts in subsidies and a population
that was suddenly impoverished.

The event seared the memory of a
future president, Hugo Chávez, who said the country’s inability to provide for
its people, and the state’s repression of the uprising, were the reasons
Venezuela needed a socialist revolution.

Now his successors find themselves
in a similar bind — or maybe even worse.

The nation is anxiously searching
for ways to feed itself.

The economic collapse of recent
years has left it unable to produce enough food on its own or import what it
needs from abroad. Cities have been militarized under an emergency decree from
President Nicolás Maduro, the man Mr. Chávez picked to carry on with his
revolution before he died three years ago.

“If there is no food, there will be more
riots,” said Raibelis Henriquez, 19, who waited all day for bread in Cumaná,
where at least 22 businesses were attacked in a single day last week.

But while the riots and clashes
punctuate the country with alarm, it is the hunger that remains the constant
source of unease.

A staggering 87 percent of
Venezuelans say they do not have money to buy enough food, the most recent
assessment of living standards by Simón Bolívar University found.

About 72 percent of monthly wages
are being spent just to buy food, according to the Center for Documentation and
Social Analysis, a research group associated with the Venezuelan Teachers
Federation.

In April, it found that a family
would need theequivalent of 16 minimum-wage salaries
to properly feed itself.

Ask people in this city when they
last ate a meal, and many will respond that it was not today.

Among them are Leidy Cordova, 37,
and her five children — Abran, Deliannys, Eliannys, Milianny and Javier Luis —
ages 1 to 11. On Thursday evening, the entire family had not eaten since
lunchtime the day before, when Ms. Cordova made a soup by boiling chicken skin
and fat that she had found for a cheap price at the butcher.

“My kids tell me they’re
hungry,” Ms. Cordova said as her family looked on. “And all I can say to them
is to grin and bear it.”

Other families have to choose who
eats. Lucila Fonseca, 69, has lymphatic cancer, and her 45-year-old daughter,
Vanessa Furtado, has a brain tumor. Despite also being ill, Ms. Furtado gives
up the little food she has on many days so her mother does not skip meals.

“I used to be very fat, but no
longer,” the daughter said. “We are dying as we live.”

Her mother added, “We are now living
on Maduro’s diet: no food, no nothing.”

Economists say years of economic
mismanagement — worsened by low prices for oil, the nation’s main source of
revenue — have shattered the food supply.

Sugar fields in the country’s
agricultural center lie fallow for lack of fertilizers. Unused machinery rots
in shuttered state-owned factories. Staples like corn and rice, once exported,
now must be imported and arrive in amounts that do not meet the need.

In response, Mr. Maduro has
tightened his grip over the food supply. Using emergency decrees he signed this
year, the president put most food distribution in the hands of a group of
citizen brigades loyal to leftists, a measure critics say is reminiscent of
food rationing in Cuba.

“They’re saying, in other words, you
get food if you’re my friend, if you’re my sympathizer,” said Roberto
Briceño-León, the director of the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a human
rights group.

It was all a new reality for Gabriel Márquez, 24, who
grew up in the boom years when Venezuela was rich and empty shelves were
unimaginable. He
stood in front of the destroyed supermarket where the mob had arrived at
Cumaná, an endless expanse of smashed bottles, boxes and scattered shelves. A
few people, including a policeman, were searching the wreckage for leftovers to
take.

“During Carnival, we used
to throw eggs at each other just to have some fun,” he said. “Now an egg is
like gold.”

Down the coastal road in a small
fishing town called Boca de Uchire, hundreds gathered on a bridge this month to
protest because the food deliveries were not arriving. Residents demanded to
meet the mayor, but when he did not come they sacked a Chinese bodega.

Residents hacked open the door with
pickaxes and pillaged the shop, venting their anger at a global power that has
lent billions of dollars to prop up Venezuela in recent years.

“We are now living on Maduro’s diet:
no food, no nothing.” LUCILA FONSECA, 69

“The Chinese won’t sell to
us,” said a taxi driver who watched the crowd haul away all that was inside.
“So we burn their stores instead.”

Mr. Maduro, who is fighting a push
for a referendum to recall him this year over the country’s declines, said it
was the political opposition that was behind the attacks on the stores.

“They paid a group of criminals,
brought them in trucks,” he said on Saturday on television, promising
compensation to those who lost property.

At the same time, the
government also blames an “economic war” for the shortages. It accuses wealthy
business owners of hoarding food and charging exorbitant prices, creating
artificial shortages to profit from the country’s misery.

It has left shop owners feeling
under siege, particularly those who do not have Spanish names.

“Look how we are working today,”
said Maria Basmagi, whose family immigrated from Syria a generation ago,
pointing to the metal grate pulled over the window of her shoe store.

Her shop was on the commercial
boulevard in Barcelona, another coastal town racked by unrest last week. At 11
a.m. the day before, someone screamed that there was an attack on a
government-run kitchen nearby. Every shop on Ms. Basmagi’s street closed down
in fear.

Other shops stay open, like the
bakery in Cumaná where a line of 100 people snaked around a corner. Each person
was allowed to buy about a pound of bread.

Robert Astudillo, a 23-year-old
father of two, was not sure there would be any left once his turn came. He said
he still had corn flour to make arepas, a Venezuelan staple, for his children.
They had not eaten meat in months.

“We make the arepas small,” he said.

In the refrigerator of Araselis
Rodriguez and Nestor Daniel Reina, the parents of four small children, there
was not even corn flour — just a few limes and some bottles of water.

The family had eaten bread for
breakfast and soup for lunch made from fish that Mr. Reina had managed to
catch. The family had nothing for dinner.

It has not always been clear what
provokes the riots. Is it hunger alone? Or is it some larger anger that has
built up in a country that has crumbled?

Inés Rodríguez was not sure. She
remembered calling out to the crowd of people who had come to sack her
restaurant on Tuesday night, offering them all the chicken and rice the
restaurant had if they would only leave the furniture and cash register behind.
They balked at the offer and simply pushed her aside, Ms. Rodríguez said.

“It is the meeting of
hunger and crime now,” she
said.

As she spoke, three trucks with
armed patrols drove by, each emblazoned with photos of Mr. Chávez and Mr.
Maduro.

The trucks were carrying food.

“Finally they come here,”
Ms. Rodríguez said. “And look what it took to get them. It took this riot to
get us something to eat.”

A Message To My Children:

Hereby, I will like to tell you kids NEVER to take things for granted just because you are Singaporeans living in a country well-sheltered like Singapore. Our success is not a coincident. Please have your eyes and ears wide open about the world outside Singapore. If possible, go out and experience the world, in particular that of developing countries (e.g. the poorer places of India, South America, China, Indonesia, Africa etc). You will then realise that Singapore is not the typical country you will find on this earth. Your father was lucky enough to travel to many of these countries and also spoke to the natives. Exposures can be one of the greatest gifts in life for you to have a better understanding of yourself and this world, and hence your life.

It can be a bit harsh or hurtful to say Singaporeans are naive. Nonetheless, it can be quite true. :-)

Most S'poreans are really too sheltered and always think that this is Singapore and we will be just fine! Perhaps our wealth and people talents today can last us for another good 30 years even being just average, but thereafter I am starting to worry! We can be fallen into the same trap that raid other used-to-be prosperous nations.

Hi Rolf, Why do you only highlight the US? Deficit spending is trending strongly and happening everywhere incl China and Japan. In a finite world, infinite growth - and with growth I mean growth in debts - cannot continue forever. Who is going to pay the price for our unsustainable behaviour? I am afraid it might be us at old age or if we are 'lucky' our next generation.Luckily your kids are way better prepared than most. I really do admire you how you always have your kids in mind when you blog.

This is because today USA is still the strongest economy in the world, therefore I just use them as a metaphor. If the strongest meets with mishaps, the impact will be biggest.

Oh Oh Oh…. I totally agree with you. Japan, China, EU, everywhere….Indonesia also plan to loosen. Negative interest rate, this never happen in the history of mankind before…. Do we really think it makes sense?

Many thought Singapore is extremely strong financially. We will be just fine even if US, China or Japan collapse. I almost fainted when I hear how ignorant people here can blathered always that “Sg will just be fine, w/o any concern!”

Yes, this may be true for our govt. for a limited number of years because of our first generation leaders. How about our current and next and next generation leaders? We need to evaluate if they really have what it takes to make us as good as before or now?

For the short term now, we can also take a good look at our household debt, it is extremely high and many did not realise this! Debt/income ratios are close to or above 150% in Singapore and Malaysia and are well above 100% in Thailand," said ICAEW.

Any sneeze from USA, China and Japan, many in Singapore will be in a big trouble!

As for my kids, one main reason why I started this blog is mainly for them (and public readers) and not really for myself. So this is my main motivation behind blogging here. Perhaps this motivation is important and more sustainable than me just wanting to be rich from investing.

Your main motivation of speaking the "truth" to open the eyes and ears of people can hurt or frighten some fragile and sensitive souls.When times are good & the streets & buildings seems painted with gold, we tend to believe it's forever the same.That's the main problem with us or most human beings.

Suddenly i think the time when we are ask to think in terms of "TOTAL DEFENCE " for Singapore.Where the "PSYCHE" of the people is emphasized.Where have "Total Defence" gone to?Or Most Singaporeans are prepared to take the first flight out?Especially for the rich and "Elites?The masses how?

I do not think that i am harsh. Youngsters only seem to be on the phone and is not interested in what is happening around. They only look forward to a yolo life without wanting to put any effort. They grow up with a maid. Where are the days where ppl are good at cooking and handycraft ? I see it as a global ussue with the smart phone. Sorry for ranting but i really get pissed off seeing all ppl on their phones at all times. This is so even at work. They can watch dramma while working. Watapp while working.

I like your directness and I can't agree more that smart phones are seriously not improving our lives much as a whole. We need the old school types of work to stimulate a community spirit where human touch is more abundant!

Yes, a lot of time our life is almost wasted again with all these smart phone apps, Facebook, games n leisure videos all the time.

For those who work hard even worst! Many of us use to have free time outside work! Now with smart phone at 10/11pm, ur boss will text u "did u see that email... Bla Bla bla..."

Your post reminded me of a fascinating report on Venezuela that stated that as a result of the food rationing, people are only allowed to buy a specific amount of certain items on each day, so you may have queued up for 2 hours to buy rice, only to find that only diapers are left. Do you still buy it?

Yes! Citizens have banded together to form categorised chat groups (WhatsApp etc) to employ a rather primitive concept of bartering items. 1 pack of diapers for 1 kg of flour etc, and the groups are so well-run that there are operating hours so as not to be disturbed by the flood of notifications during night-time etc. Really amazed by how people adapt to the tough times.

So, back to the topic. I think Singapore is an anomaly, we are all fighting hard to stay as an anomaly, but you never know. Your exposure has given you valuable perspectives. Makes me envious.

Thanks for the compliments. I have still a long way to go n long list to learn. As long as we improve 1% a day it's still good.

Exposures r obtained by1) reading n awareness (good but not good enough) 2) talking to pple (impt to have human touch n not just virtual - lacking big time today) 3) doing or being there experiencing (most impt bcos this is where we know what we do not know, fail, PAIN n improve!

That is why I I want to convey this message of exposures to my children.

The whatsapp group is good initiative only when the culture of the country has comradeship as I mentioned in my earlier comment.

The "have nots" will resent the "haves" n even the "haves (rich)" will soon rob off their riches, if not being beaten to death.

Soln: Not to fret!!! It's the ability to see things happening early ahead of the masses! So many smart Americans have already left their country to reside in other parts of the world - Jim Rogers, Marc Faber, Richard Duncan etc

Have to agree with you about the whining and grumbling esp seeing more on social media comments.

Maybe it's a way to vent out the stress air who they initially dun really meant it so seriously. But then again, sometimes the more we rant, after awhile it becomes like a habit which can be quite harmful.

For me, I will say it if eventually what I say will actually "awakens" those still not sober n for benefit of greater good. But if what I say i know will make v little difference (depending on who's the audience), I will prefer to keep mum instead!

It just so happen that I recently chanced upon a video on the current Venezuela situation; and it scares me when I realise that a country stability can change overnight.

If even a resource rich country like Venezuela can end up in such situation, what is there to stop Singapore from doing so?

Good governance? If so, then it's even scarier when a significant number of Singaporeans espouse populist social policy put up by "certain" party to garner support. Who's gonna pay for these proposed social program? Our kids?

Btw, im not a pro-pap (I voted for oppo before:p) supporter as they have their shortcomings too. I just prefer to choose the lesser evil for our leaders.

Oops. I have no inclination to turn this into a political rant. Sorry 😬

From all of us lol!Ants , grasshoppers, butterflies & moths.Must always remember Gs of the world actually produce nothing.If the people don't produce, where got money for the G to hand back some of your collective money back to you.

We better pray our G will be anti-corruption all the way.And the people of Singapore knows we can not stop working, we have nothing but people.There is "NO FREE LUNCH" anywhere in the World man!

if it is a political rant, I will moderate. So far this comment still ok. I am balanced between ruling and opposition party also, just like u and what the usa election called "swing" votes!

Which video is that, maybe I will take a look and ask my children to watch also.

Yea... lesser of the evil. The problem comes when economy is down n pple lives become difficult n this is when we tend to be more blinded bcos we r focus on ourselves only n our own survival. This is when someone even evil (like Hitler) is able to manipulate.

So evil or not, depending on situation can be sometimes difficult to tell.

Ya lor, a lot of pple working in the civil service actually forgotten that their money is actaully from partly tax payers.

When I go back reservist, u can see everyone is driving Mercs, BMW, Audi. A camp mate who is in civil service also changed Mercs after Mercs. A frd of mine not from rich family n just an assoc director in govt sector is driving 7 series.

Actaully the pay scale in stat board I kind of know the band too.. for some, it's really imbalance in terms of car to their income or even title.

Do not mistaken I never jealous, but imagine, soldiers, police, civil defence, customs people all driving Mercs n BMW... which is what happens now.

The image portrayed is really not good. Civil servants taking for granted tax payers money n spend luxuriously thinking that public sector is far more impt than private sector...

I jokingly tell a frd that actaully not good if he is in uniform sector to drive all these luxurious car... bcos I m partly funding his income... he asked me go tell our ministers lor!

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This blog and its contents contain the opinions and views of me. It is not a recommendation to purchase or sell the stocks of any of the companies or investments herein discussed. If a reader requires expert financial advice, a competent professional should be consulted. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information contained herein the blog and its contents. Other than being the shareholders of some of the stocks discussed herein at the time of writing, I am not in any way related to the company mentioned within the blog. I specifically disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, professional or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any contents of this blog.